Have faith

We all have faith in something. What or whom do you have faith in? What is faith? In our last discussion we talked about hope, and hope is closely related to faith. Without faith there is no hope. With faith, we can do many things. Through faith in God, we can move mountains. We have hope. And our hope is in the Lord.

Hebrews 11:1-3

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Faith is believing and trusting in the unseen. It is what gives us hope. We have faith in others. We have faith in things. But having faith in God, who created us gives us hope. Through faith we are saved from our sins. It is God’s gift to us. Jesus came to this earth to die for us. By paying for our sins, He has given us that gift. All we have to do is accept it by faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Romans 5:1-2

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

We are saved by grace, justified by faith, which comes from Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. That is the ultimate gift God has given us. He has promised us eternal life through His Son. Jesus Christ came to this earth to be that perfect sacrifice for all of us. And He has promised to all who believe in Him that we would have eternal life, that we would have life abundantly, and that He would provide the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen our faith.

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is faithful. He never gives up on us. He sent His Son to pay for our sins so that if we believe and have faith we will be saved. Isn’t it awesome to have someone pray for you and your faith as Paul did with so many churches? Not only that, but we have the Holy Spirit living in us to strengthen our faith that Jesus promised to all who believe.

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

God gives us faith. Part of the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness (notice fruit is not plural; if we have the Holy Spirit in us, we have all the virtues of the fruit). We are saved by grace through faith; we are justified and declared righteous by the blood sacrifice of sinless Jesus, who is fully God and fully man. Nothing we can ever do will save us.

Romans 3:21-31

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

We are justified by faith. Jesus says that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. He paid the penalty of our sins. Nothing we can do could earn it. The works that we do are evidence of our faith. Our worship toward God and our love toward others are evidence of our salvation

James 2:14-18

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Many take this to be a contradiction to grace, saying we need to do works to be saved. But they get it backwards. We are saved by grace through faith. It is a gift God has given us through His Son Jesus Christ. But how do we know we have that faith? How do we know we are saved? Our actions and our thoughts. We don’t do good works to be saved, but because we are saved. We do them because we want to do them and because we love God and love others. 1 John is a great resource if you are wondering how we know we are saved. More on that in future posts. God has promised all who believe will have eternal life. and He is faithful. We can have assurance that our faith will save us because of Jesus’ sacrifice.

Hebrews 10:19-23

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Knowing that we are saved we can have assurance of His promise. Not only has God promised us eternal life, but He gave us His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, as a guarantee. The Holy Spirit lives in all believers, and will guide us and strengthen us and comfort us. He will convict us when we sin, and He will be an advocate, and draw us closer to God. I have seen all these things in my life since I believed.

2 Corinthians 5:5-9

Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.

There is so much more on faith in the Bible that we can talk about, such as all of Hebrews 11, known as “the hall of faith” by many, but I will leave you with what Jesus says in His letter to the church of Smyrna, the persecuted church, one of two churches He did not have words against them. Let us strive to be one of those churches which Jesus will say, “well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21)

Revelation 2:8-11

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, ‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life: “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” ‘

Let us remember to always have faith and to live for Christ. As Jesus said, that even a litlle bit of faith, faith as a mustard seed, can move mountains (Matthew 17:20).